Towel washing machine



Dec. 3, 1963 1 GORDON TOWEL WASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1957 INVEN-roR aus Godozi/ ATTORNEY Dec. 3, 1963 L. GORDON 3,112,631

TowEL WASHING MACHINE Filed Jan. 4, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I @5 INVENTOR AT ORNEY L. GORDON TOWEL WASHING MACHINE f1-qa.

Filed Jan. 4, 1957 s sheets-sheet s BYd 50 5f /45 @E E@ INVENTOR ozzzfs Gordon ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,112,631 TUWEH. WASIENG MACIWE Louis Gordon, Premier Laundry, Inc., 350 Gerard Ave., New York, N.Y. Filed Eau. 4, 1957, Ser. No. 632,477 1 Claim. (Cl. 68-19) The present invention relates to a towel washing machine and it particularly relates to an -automatically continuous or roll towel washing machine for use in washrooms, particularly in hotels, railroad stations, restaurants, and the like, wherein roll towels are not subject to frequent replacement and as a general rule the end of the towel is always at hand and extensively used, with lack or" sanitary precautions and to the great dissatisfaction of customers.

With increasing labor costs and with varying load upon various towel cabinets it is practically impossible without excessive cost to give satisfactory servicing and to assure prompt replacement of the roller towel when nearing exhaustion or when it is exhausted.

Furthermore, because of the complication of the mechanism it is usually not readily possible to allow the consumer or the operators of the bar, restaurant, washroom or other public convenience to replace the roller towel since such devices may not be properly installed, with the result that the towel will not work and the mechanism will be deranged or maladjusted with resultant serious excessive labor charges. All of these ditliculties are becoming increasingly apparent with increased shortage of competent mechanically skilled repair and maintenance men and with increased usage of washroom facilities.

It is 'among the objects `of the present invention to provide an automatic towel washing unit to be installed directly in roller towel Iassemblies which will assure that a section of freshly washed and sanitary toweling will be available at all times regardless of the burden or the number of usages of the towel roller cabinet and even though servicing and replacement may not be readily available.

Another object is to provide `an automatic towel washing and drying machine wihch will at all times be available, in washrooms, restaurants, bars, hotels, and other public installations, and which may be readily automatically operated by the user or consumer with or without a coin insertion and which will give assurance of a plentiful and ever ready supply of freshly laundered, sanitary toweling when required, regardless of the frequency of usage and infrequency of repair and servicing.

4Still further lobjects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most suitable in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention to provide -in combination with a towel dispensing mechanism a washing compartment, an ironing compartment and a drying compartment with the Y towel always being supplied when required by the customer, in freshly laundered condition, without the need of the replacing at the run of the towel and with the use of much smaller amounts of toweling than previously required.

`In the preferred form of the invention, the towel is drawn or moved through the washing, rinsing and drying chambers by the action of the consumer in pulling down the freshly laundered clean towel. Desirably, the user, positioned at the front of the mechanism, will cause a long loop of the towel to pass through the washing chamber A 3,1 12,63 1 Patented Dec. 3, 1963 ICC and the rinsing chamber. These washing and rinsing chambers have means by which the towel fw-ill be subjected to detergent treatment and then to brushing or rinsing treatment, following which it will be passed between wringer rolls and then heated by germicidal lamps or units. As a general rule, the entire towel assembly tits on a series of rollers ywhich may be removed as a unit from `the washing and rinsing chambers.

The wash liquid and the rinse liquid may be automatically replenished depending upon the consumption thereof and variable displacement pumps may be operated from a common motor which will also operate the various washing equipment and washing and rinsing tanks.

With the foregoing and :other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more speciiically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein `is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modiiications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claim hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view partly in section to show the interior construction of the combined towel dispensing, washing, rinsing and sanitizing mechanism, taken upon the line `1 1 of :FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse, vertical, sectional view upo the line 2 2 of FIGURE l;

'FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic side layout of the drive mechanism `of the various rollers and elements of the combination unit as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, but taken upon the line 3-3 of FIG. l and upon a reduced scale yas compared to FIG. l;

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic layout of the rinsing and bleaching liquid supply and the manner in which it is fed to the -washing tank and the rinsing tank;

l'FIGURE 5 is a transverse, sectional view of an alternative arrangement showing the provision of agitators in the tanks;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic electrical layout showing the manner of electrically operating the arrangement of FIGS. 1-4.

Referring to FIGS. l and 2 there is shown a towel hanging in the loop `at A ready for usage in freshly laundered condition. Above the position at A will be a mirror B with a manually actuated button C which starts the operation. The upper compartment D is provided with a low heating effect lamp E, with a germicidal lamp F, and with a pencil radiant heat lam-p G. Also in the upper portion of the apparatus will be provided the drive rollers H and the wringer rollers J. The lirst long towel loop K will extend into the tank L having the detergent or washing solution and provided with the scrubbing units' Referring more specifically to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is' shown an upper casing 10 which receives the lamp units G, F and E and which carries the mirror B. The upper unit has a cover -1'1 with a telescoping t at 12. cover may be removed to inspect the lamp units E, F and G for replacement or to observe the condition of the towel at 13 after it has been laundered, rinsed, dried and is ready for usage.

In the front part of the upper compartment 10 will be the friction or sandpaper roller .14 on the shaft y1S which The will press the towel at 16 against the rubber roller 17 on the shaft 118. The rollers 14 and 17 will be actuated automatically by the pressing of the button C and the motor U which is shown as mounted upon the base 19 on the lloor 20 of the base compartment 21. It will be noted that the motor as shown in FIGS. l and 3 has a drive gear 22 which may be part of a reduction box unit which drives the 'chain A23 which passes over the sprockets 24 and 25; 26 and 27; and 28 and 29, to drive the -large sprocket 30. The large sprocket 30 in turn has a small sprocket 311 on the same shaft 32 which drives the sprocket chain 33 passing over the sprockets 34 and 35. The sprocket chain at its end passes over the sprocket wheel 36 4which drives the shaft 15 connected to the sandpaper roller which will rotate at the rear at about 1 r.p.s. upon operation.

The sandpaper roller 14 may be pressed by spring pressure against the rubber roll 17. It will be noted that the towel loop A passes through the slot 38 in front of the apron 319 and then the used towel will pass upwardly as indicated by the arrow lil in FIG. 2 and over the drive rollers 41 and 42 and then over the idler roller 43 to form the loop K in the tank L. The tank L will have a solvent and detergent and will be heated up the heater member T.

There are shown two washing devices M and N which consist of backboards 44 and 45 against which the towel is pressed While being vigorously brushed by the rubber brushes 46 and 47.

The brushes 46 and y47 will be driven by the shafts 4S and 49 of the sprockets 28 and 26, respectively, at a rate of about l r.p.s.

As many units M and N may be used as necessary and -the towel will then be passed over the roller i) on the shaft 51 which is driven by the sprocket 24 of FIG. 3. As many washing units M and N may be utilized as desired and they may be positioned on both sides of the roller 50. In the embodiment shown, however, the toweling will then ascend as indicated by the arrow 52 along the partition 53 to the top idler roller 54 on the shaft 55.

Then the towel will descend along the partition 53 into the rinsing tank P. When it passes to the bottom of the tank it will pass over -the roller 56 on the shaft 57 which is also driven by the sprocket 25'.

Both rollers 50 and 56 may be devoid of driving connection and may be idlers, if desired. The towel may then pass through-the rinsing units R and S which consist of backboards 58 and 59= against which the towel is pressed by the rotating brushes 60 and 61 on the shafts 62 and 63. These shafts are driven by the sprockets 27 and 29 as shown in lFIG. 3.

These brushes may be rotated at a rate of l0 r.p.s. and the backing plates 58 and 59` may be polished so as to give a smoth finish and they may be alternated on opposite sides of the toweling as the towel passes upwardly in the direction 64. Then, the toweling-will pass between the squeeze or wringer rolls 65 and 66 which are pressed together by the springs 67. The damp toweling will then pass under one or more pene-il radiant lamps G, then under one or more germicidal lamps -F and nally over the guide roller or idler 68. Then it will be passed into position .13 where it may be inspected and it will be driven or pulled downwardly by the sandpaper roller 14.

The thermostat devices 80 in the washing tank L and 81 in the rinsing tank P may be utilized for controlling temperatures. The entire towel assembly including the units M and N in -the `tank L and R and S in the tank P may be removed from the tanks to enable cleaning or inspection of these tanks and the spider arrangement as shown in FIG. 3 -will enable this entire u-nit to be removed together. The side plates which can be removed unitarily are indicated at 82 in FIG. l.

The supply arrangement is best shown at the bottom of FIG. 1 and in FIG. 4. The supply W will contain concentrated solvent, soap and `detergent and will feed from the liquid 9-0 into the tray '91 and then into the pipe 92 through the pump 93, the conduit 94, to discharge at 95 into the tank L.

The rinsing solution which may contain both concentrated rinse material and bleach will discharge through the neck 96 into the tray 97, the pump 98, the conduit 99, to discharge at 106 into the rinsing tank. This discharge arrangement may be controlled by the floats 101, 102 which will indicate when therev is a drop in the level in tanks L and P requiring additional fluid to be added. The conduit 163 will be an overflow conduit connected to the pump 1i4either to discharge uid as indicated at 103 or to circulate it back to the tank as indicated by the conduit 196. The check valve device or equalization of level device 107 will have connections at 108, 109 to both tanks to equalize the level to about four inches. Hot water may be supplied by the iluid valve arrangements 161, 162, the supply being indicated, for example, at 110, which may also consist of steam under pressure.

The three pumps 93, 9S and 104 are shown as assembled together as a unit in FIG. 1 at the bottom thereof and they may consist of rotary, or adjustable displacement piston pumps driven together by the sprocket 111 from the chain 112 and the sprocket 103 on a motor U through a reduction gear if desired.

The pump 9S will feed the rinse solution to the chamber P from the carboy or supply reservoir X while the pump 93 may feed detergent solution from the inverted carboy or replaceable container W to the washing tank L. Although these pumps are connected together they may be provided with separate clutches on the drive shaft so they need not be operated at the same time. Pump 194 operates when it is necessary to remove liquid from the wash tank L and also is provided with a selective clutch arrangement.

The check valve device 167 is operated when the liquid level is lower in chamber L than in chamber P to equalize the level to about four inches.

The motor is preferably so arranged that it will drive the sprockets 22 and 113 at about 10 r.p.s. so as to give a linear rate of movement of the towel of 24" in ve seconds when the device is being operated.

At the front of the lower compartmentr21 there may be provided an inspection door 114 to replace the containers W and X and so to give access to the motor U.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 5 has a number of agitator devices Y and Y which may be utilized, consisting of propeller devices which may be driven at a speed of about 600 rpm. through the shafts and 126 which have the drive sprockets 127 and 128 and the chain drives 129 and 130. The glands 131 and 132 will seal the drive shafts against leakage of lluid from the interior of the containers.

In the electrical layout as shown in FIG. 6 a pushbutton is positioned upon the line which is connected across the main lines 141 and 142 passing to the 110 volt A.C. supply 143. Across the lines 141 and 142 there will also be connected the thermostats 80 and 81 for regulating the temperatures in the tanks L and P in series with which are the water heaters T which extend through the tanks L and P. Also connected across the lines 141 and 142 will be the germicidal lamp F and the low heat warming lamp E.

The drying lamp G will be connected up onto the pushbutton circuit as indicated at the left of FIG. 6.

There will be a cam switch controlled at 144 which will operate the contact 145 until a complete revolution of the cam 146 takes place, causing a complete replacement of the towel loop A which is to be used. It will be noted that the cam roller 146 will control the drive of the sandpaper roller 14 with the towel 13 being passed between the rollers 14 and 17 until there is a complete revolution of the cam roller 146. The motor U is also positioned across the lines 141 and 142 in series with the pushbutton switch C.

The switch V144-145--146 is indicated diagrammatically and the cam roller maybe driven not shown but connected by a drive belt or chain to the motor U. The purpose of the switch 144-145-146 is to replace the loop A so that a complete new fresh loop will be presented and the drive therefore continues a full revolution of the cam switch 146 before the drive is closed off. This showing o1 PIG. 6 is diagrammatical.

In operation, the pushbutton C on the upper left end side of the towel cabinet alongside the looking glass C will cause the clean towel to advance 24 inches and stop.

During this towel advance to form a fresh loop A, the brush plate or paddle elements M and N will be caused to wash the towel and the arrangements R and S will be caused to rinse the towel with such Washing and rinsing process occurring only when the towel is being advanced at the rate of a foot per second. These brushes 16, 47 and 6G, 61 desirably have their bristles bunched together so as to both agitate the liquid and brush the towel lightly so as to reduce the surface soil without undue abrasion of the towel. Extra agitation may be achieved by the impellers Y of FiG. 5 and this will give any additional loosening of soil or hevy dirt from the towels.

During the period of towel advance the three pumps will operate.

The drain pump 164 will discharge to the drain a small percentage of the solution in the Washing tank L. For example, up to 5% for each wiping or towel advance of 24". At the same time the solvent or detergent pump 93 will supply a smaller amount of concentrated detergent solution to the washing tank L. Similarly, at the same time the rinse of supply pump 98 will supply a small amount of rinse solution to the rinsing tank P. The flow of all three pumps 93, 93 and 194. may be regulated individually and each of these pumps may act as a proportioning pump to proportion concentrated solution to new hot water being supplied past the float controlled check valves 3101 and 192 through the hot water conduit or steam inlet 11i). The timing is done by the cam switch 146. Thus it is apparent that the present invention has provided a unitary roll towel washing and rinsing device which will operate in accordance with usage always to supply a fresh, clean loop of a roll towel to be used regardless of the length of time the apparatus has been standing without being operated and also with assurance that a fresh, clean towel will always be available even though the device be very frequently used.

While there has been herein described a preferred form oi' the invention, it should be understood that the same may be altered in details and in relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claim.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed:

What is claimed is:

In a continuous towel washing, rinsing and drying arrangement comprising a deep rectangular cross section tank having a deep front washing compartment occupying the full width of the tank, a deep rear rinsing compartment occupying the full width of the tank, a bottom compartment carrying a drive motor, drive rollers at the top and bottom of said deep compartments over which the towel is driven, a deep side compartment, a chain drive for said rollers in said side compartment extending from said drive motor to said drive rollers, rotating brushes with backing plates extending transversely across said compartments and also driven by said chain drive, a top compartment carrying heating and drying lamps and a forwardly extendinv top overhang structure to permit the cleansed, rinsed and dried towel to hang down as a loop to be available to the user, said top drive rollers beinU positioned above the liquid level in said deep compartments and there being means provided to supply wash water and rinse water to the deep compartments While maintaining a predetermined level in said washing and rinsing compartments.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,948,239 Redd Feb. 20, 1934 2,295,955 Page Sept. 15, 1942 2,516,656 Smith July 25, 1950 2,609,623 Miller Sept. 9, 1952 2,655,922 Wells Oct. 13, 1953 2,776,558 Vang Ian. 8, 1957 2,787,151 Ketchum et al Apr. 2, 1957 

